Vapor-pan for hot-air furnaces



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. SCHAFFER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

VAPOR-PAN FOR HOT-AIR FURNACES.

l SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,551, dated April19, 188'7.

Application filed July 7, 1886. Serial No. 207,291. (No model.)

To all Lu/1,0m, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. SOHAFFER, of Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Vapor-Pans for Hot-Air Furnaces; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to hot-air furnaces em ployed for heatingdwellings, stores, and other buildings.- In order to moisten-the airheated in these furnaces it has been customary to place within thehot-air chambera pan containing Water, which would be vaporized by theheat, andthe vapor mingling with the air would moisten it, so preventingany deleterious effect of thelieated air upon the occupants. Thesevapor-pans were generally formed of a square pan at one side of thefurnace, and it is evident that the vapor rising from such pan could notmoisten all the air heated in the furnace, especially where there was astrong draft through the hot-air chamber when all the heat was beingutilized. The proper moistening of the air is found of great importancein furnaces heated by natural gas, as the gas in burning has an vavidityfor moisture, and it has been found necessary to employ vaporizingapparatus in all rooms heated through grates or furnaces by this gas.

The object of my invention is to provide a vapor-pan by means of whichall the heated air may be moistened.

It consists, generally, in an annular vaporpan surrounding the body ofthe furnace proper and inclosed within the outer casing or walls, thepan being so placed-that its Walls are not directly exposed to the hotair, but the surface of the water is heated thereby, by which asufficient amount of vapor is thrown off to moisten the air withoutcausing the water to boil in the pan.

It also consists in combining this annular vapor-pan with thecasing-ring of the ordinary portable furnace, so that the casingsupports the vapor-pan, and the pan at the same time connects the upperand lower part of' the casing.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willdescribe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a vertical central section of ahot-airfurnaceillustrating myinvention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on theline X X, Fig. l; and Figs. 3 and 4L are enlarged sections of thevapor-pan and casing at different parts therein.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in cach.

The furnace a may be of any desired construction, that shown being onlyas an illus tration of any ordinary heating-furnace. Surrounding thisfurnace is the outer casing, b, which, in the stationary furnace, isgenerally built of brick, but in the portable furnace is formed of sheetmetal, as shown, the casing being supported on the annular extension cat the base of the furnace a. The casing bis supported by suitablecast-metal casing-rings, as at d, which serve to brace the casing andhold it to shape. The number of such rings depend on the height of thecasing and the width of the sheets of metal forming the sections of thecasing.

My improved annular Vapor-pan is shown at e, this pan surroundingthefurnace and being supported by the casing thereof, and the pan beingtrough-shaped to retain the desired quantity of water. Vhen employedwith the sheet-metal casing, as shown, the vapor-pan serves as acasingring, the section j' of the casing below the pan fitting betweenthe body of the pan and the downwardly-extending annular lip g, and theannular vapor-pan being thus supported on thesectionf of the casing.

If desired, the annular vapor-pan may eX- tend inwardly from the part ofthe casing supporting it butI prefer the construction shown, for thereason that the vaporpan is not brought so close to the furnace, and theliability of the too rapid vaporization of the Water is prevented. Thecasingsection i rests on an annu-l lar bead, k, around the vapor-pan,the top Z of the casing being supported thereby.

The annular vapor-pan is provided with a filling-chute, m, and with oneor more overilow-spouts, a, by means of which it is filled and the Waterprevented from running into the hot-air space p between the furnace aand the casing l), the casing-section t' being cut away where the chutevm and sponts n are formed.

In order to protect the vapor-pan from the direct radiation from thefurnace, and to pre ICO vent the rapid vaporizationof the water therein,I prefer to employ the annular shield o between the pan and the body ofthe furnace, t-his shield being supported on lugs s, extend-l inginwardly from the pan, and if the shield extends below the pan, as isdesirable, slots extending from the base upwardly may be formed in theshield the distance it extends below the pan, the lugs s resting onthese slots Vhen the furnace having my improved va por-pan is in use,the air enters at the base of the furnace and passes up in the space pbetween the furnace-body and casing7 and in some cases through the bodyof the furnace, and the heated air causes the Vaporization of thewaterwithin the annular pan, the vapor rising therefrom around the body oftheheated air and becoming intermingled'therewith in such manner as tomeisten the heated air, the air necessarily passing through the annularbody of vapor surrounding it before it can pass out of the casing. Whenthe shield r is employed,it protects the water in the pan from thedirect radiation of heat from the furnacebody, only a portion of theheated air passing between the shield and the casing, and this portionacting on the waterin the pan to cause the vaporization of a sufficientquantity to properly meisten the air. .Practical use has proven thatmuch better results are obtained with my improved vapor-pan than whenthe ordinary pan at one side of the furnace is employed, the entire bodyof heated air beingl evenly moistened. In the portable furnace! theannular pan also acts as a casing-ring to brace the sheet-metal casing,acting as a combined casing-ring and vapor-pan.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. An annular vapor-pan for hot-airfurnaces, surrounding the furnace-body and supported entirely outsidethe walls of thel furnace by the outer casing of the furnace,substantially as described.

2. In a hot-air furnace,the combination of a lower outer casing and anupper outer casing of larger diameter than the lower with an aunularvapor-pan having its inner side secured to the lower casing and itsouter side to the upper casing, substantially as and for the pur- JOHNI?. SCIIAFFER.

Witnesses:

JAMEs I. KAY, J. N. COOKE.

